52 Books in 2008 #31-34

Book #32Rowing to Latitude - Jill FredstonA book about a couple who row and kayak around the Artic Circle. Cool. Made me want to go out and buy a kayak. I probably won`t though. For the time being anyway...

Book #31Looking For Alaska – Peter JenkinsI started off liking this book, being about travel and the outdoors etc, but this guy’s writing style bugged me more and more as I went along. He only ever said positive things about everyone and everything connected to Alaska, including his family. It just got irritating hearing how amazing all his new friends and his family are, particularly his daughter. The only time he ever got negative was to talk about “tourists”, which of course is what he was, when it comes down to it. I also thought he used far too many words. This sentence, in particular, grated. “He ate some of the fantastically tasty leftover pizza and we all went to bed” (p. 313). Firstly “fantastically” should never be used in any kind of sentence. It’s just wrong. Secondly, “tasty” is completely redundant when it comes to describing pizza. Pizza is always good, so there`s no point in using an adjective to describe it - everyone knows it`s going to do the job. Unless you`re in Japan that is, you can get some pretty weird “pizza” over here. Peas and carrots?! I don`t think so. However the word “leftover” I can deal with. No issues there. This one sentence summed up the book for me though, too many words.

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Grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand, but have been in Hokkaido, Japan since 1999 - just can`t leave the place! This blog is about backcountry snowboarding, surfing and pro-wrestling, not to mention traveling, food, English, and life in Japan as well.